Water-enhanced solubility of carboxylic acids in organic solvents and its applications to extraction processes

摘要

The solubilities of carboxylic acids in certain organic solvents increase remarkably with an increasing amount of water in the organic phase. This phenomenon leads to a novel extract regeneration process in which the co-extracted water is selectively removed from an extract, and the carboxylic acid precipitates. This approach is potentially advantageous compared to other regeneration processes because it removes a minor component of the extract in order to achieve a large recovery of acid from the extract. Carboxylic acids of interest include adipic acid, fumaric acid, and succinic acid because of their low to moderate solubilities in organic solvents. Solvents were screened for an increase in acid solubility with increased water concentration in the organic phase. Most Lewis-base solvents were found to exhibit this increased solubility phenomena. Solvents that have a carbonyl functional group showed a very large increase in acid solubility. 71 refs., 52 figs., 38 tabs.